Book Review: The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty

Book #37 of 2019:

The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #2)

As with its predecessor The City of Brass, this sequel displays super-immersive fantasy worldbuilding inspired by #ownvoices Islamic folklore, but not much of an overall plot. There’s a whole lot of political intrigue in Daevabad, but much of it feels like wheel-spinning until the three viewpoint characters are reunited, especially given that we know one of them is planning an attack on the mystical city. I’m also still a little confused by some of the different factions of djinn, which lessens the impact of all their maneuvering. Still, the protagonists are sympathetic, and I continue to enjoy seeing this world through their eyes. And since the action at the end of this novel picks up dramatically, I have high hopes for the final volume as well.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

Book #36 of 2019:

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children #3)

I always worry that these novellas about children who miss their adopted fantasylands are going to get formulaic and stale, but somehow author Seanan McGuire keeps coming up with new variations that I find endlessly enchanting. I’m not sure if this third volume is my favorite of the series so far, but its story of a group of the students venturing into a world of sugary nonsense to make sure its past happens on schedule is definitely the first to feel like it justifies the short length and doesn’t leave me wanting more. With McGuire’s trademark diversity of characters and thoughtful consideration of how different people can feel like they don’t belong — here explored primarily through fatphobia — the book easily lives up to its predecessors and shows that there are plenty of doors in this setting still waiting to be opened.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Hey Ladies! by Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss

Book #35 of 2019:

Hey Ladies! by Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss

This novel has a razor-thin plot and some truly ridiculous millennial caricatures, but it’s kept me laughing almost despite myself. I also really like the cleverness of the epistolary format, which tells the story entirely as an ongoing email thread (with occasional text message interludes) from the various members of this central friend group as they coordinate a series of hangouts, workouts, bachelorette parties, and interventions over the course of a year. The titular NYC ladies can be basic and trashy, and the audacity with which they continually make and break expensive plans without consulting one another is somewhat cringe-inducing, but overall the book is a quick, fun read. I’m very glad that the lead-up to my own wedding was nothing like the trainwreck depicted here, though!

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Book #34 of 2019:

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

The idea that our version of 2016 is a dystopia caused by an errant time-traveler is a great premise, but I find the execution here to be severely underbaked. This is a curiously apolitical book — it could easily have been set anytime in the past decade or so, as there aren’t really any recent historical developments mentioned at all — and the storyline drags for long periods without the main character having any sort of clearly-defined goal. He doesn’t even arrive in our time until a third of the way through the novel, and nearly everything before that point (along with quite a bit after) is either angst or sheer exposition. There are some interesting sci-fi concepts thrown around, but overall it’s a disappointing read.

[Content warning for rape and a pretty sexist protagonist / narrative. Honestly every woman in this plot is treated rather horribly by both the hero and the text.]

★★☆☆☆

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Book Review: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Book #33 of 2019:

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton (Rebel of the Sands #1)

Theoretically, this should be a wildly fresh Young Adult fantasy novel, with a setting that blends Middle-Eastern mythology with a gunslinging western. In practice, however, it leans far more towards the latter influence than the former, and the worldbuilding details never really feel particularly distinctive. (This is why the #ownvoices movement celebrates authors speaking from their own cultural experiences and not just anyone writing diversely; although it’s always nice to move away from eurocentric castles and princesses, there’s little here that rings out as anything but set-dressing.)

Add to that weakness some pretty flimsy justification for where the heroine is trying to go and who she’s traveling with, and it’s hard for me as a reader to feel particularly invested in her journey. The book tells its story effectively, and there’s every chance that debut author Alwyn Hamilton has improved her craft in the sequels, but this title hasn’t swept me away like the best of its genre can.

★★★☆☆

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Book Review: The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Book #31 of 2019:

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #1)

I don’t read (or watch) a lot of police procedurals, but having enjoyed the TV adaptation of this book series, I figured I should check out some of the original source material. And I’m glad that I finally did, because this first Bosch novel is a lot of fun. It’s got more than its share of hardboiled cliches, but I like that it’s both an exciting thriller and a detective story that lets readers figure things out at their own pace. Certain elements in the text are rather dated dated now — such as the cutting-edge 1992 technology and some unfortunate casual transphobia — but overall I’ve enjoyed seeing how the stoic cop got his start.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer

Book #32 of 2019:

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer

As the title suggests, this is a book that’s very much in conversation with Dee Brown’s classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which I regret to say I haven’t yet read. Like that earlier volume, this 2019 follow-up centers its Native American history in the perspective of indigenous peoples themselves, but with the added focus on the period following the titular Lakota massacre. Ojibwe author David Treuer emphasizes the fact that Indian civilization(s) didn’t culminate at Wounded Knee, and he draws on his own experiences and ethnographic interviews to offer key insights into how the broader U.S. culture of the past century has shaped and been shaped by this population.

From reservation casinos to language revitalization to pipeline disputes, Treuer provides a crash course on some of the contemporary issues facing tribal members, as well as an eye-opening look at the historical forces behind them. It’s a necessary reminder that Native Americans are neither monolithic nor bygone nor defined just by victimhood, and that no understanding of our country can be complete without taking them into consideration.

★★★★☆

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Book Review: Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao

Book #30 of 2019:

Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C. Dao (Rise of the Empress #2)

The first book in this East Asian-inspired fantasy duology remains a fascinating look at a complex antiheroine, but author Julie C. Dao makes the disappointing choice for its sequel to reduce that character to a more conventional villain’s role and center her much less interesting stepdaughter instead. The broad strokes of the narrative aren’t surprising — it is a Snow White retelling, after all — but the evil queen’s downfall could have been told in the same nuanced way as the previous novel rather than being the result of someone else’s bland quest to collect magic artifacts here. 

There’s nothing especially awful about this concluding volume of Empress Xifeng’s story, but there’s also not much to recommend it for anyone who loved her debut.

This book: ★★★☆☆

Overall series: ★★★☆☆

Book ranking: 1 > 2

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Book Review: The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas

Book #29 of 2019:

The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas (Lady Sherlock #3)

With this third novel playing out along similar lines to its shaky predecessors, I think I’ve reached the end of my patience with the Lady Sherlock series. There are some strong character elements that I like in its genderbent version of the famous consulting detective, but the plots are consistently muddled and full of implausible details that any reasonable person should question in a heartbeat. (Some of these are flimsy disguises that weaken the characterization of anyone who doesn’t see through them, and others are contrived coincidences that make it harder for the reader to suspend disbelief at all.) So although I’d still say there’s great potential in the heroine and the core concept of these books, I believe it’s time to recognize that the execution just isn’t working for me.

★★☆☆☆

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TV Review: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, season 4

TV #7 of 2019:

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, season 4

This series has always been an interesting blend of over-the-top 30 Rock absurdism and heightened-yet-thoughtful portrayal of abuse and recovery, but this final season struggles with that balance and regularly comes across as glibber than I remember the show being in the past. It’s a bit too quick to use wokeness as a punchline, ridiculing legitimate cultural critiques instead of considering them with the nuance that I know the writers could bring to the task.

In many ways, the early episodes of this show foreshadowed the #MeToo movement, shining an uncomfortable spotlight on issues that were too often dismissed or not considered at all in most popular entertainment. But now that those conversations are more mainstream, the sitcom approach feels somewhat hollow, leaving an audience with characters who can still deliver reliable jokes but are increasingly hard to really root for. There’s not enough closure in this final chapter of the Kimmy Schmidt story for my tastes, but since the program seems to have run out of things to say, I guess it’s for the best that it’s ending here.

This season: ★★★☆☆

Overall series: ★★★★☆

Season ranking: 2 > 1 > 3 > 4

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